Read activity of chat rooms

ABSTRACT

In one embodiment, method includes receiving data including chat room data from a chat room server, receiving input data from at least one input device, preparing a user interface screen including a chat room list including chat room panels, each one chat room panel including information about a different chat room from a plurality of chat rooms and a chat room icon of the different chat room, wherein a first chat room panel includes an indication of how many chat room members of a first chat room from the plurality of chat rooms have read a first message posted in the first chat room. Related systems and methods are also included.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent Ser. No. 15/083,340entitled READ ACTIVITY OF CHAT ROOMS, filed on Mar. 29, 2016, thecontents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to read activity of chat rooms.

BACKGROUND

The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used to describe any formof synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronousconferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging fromreal-time online chat and online interaction to fully immersivegraphical social environments. The primary use of a chat room is toshare information via text with a group of other users. The users in aparticular chat room are generally connected via a shared interest orother similar connection. New technology has enabled the use of filesharing and webcam to be included in some programs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will be understood and appreciated more fullyfrom the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with thedrawings in which:

FIGS. 1-4 are views of a user interface screen, at various time periods,constructed and operative in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a view of a user interface screen constructed and operative inaccordance with an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a view of the user interface screen of FIG. 1 showing moreinformation about which members have read a message; and

FIG. 7 is partly pictorial, partly block diagram view of a chat roomclient device constructed and operative in accordance with an embodimentof the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS Overview

There is provided in accordance with an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a method including receiving data including chat room datafrom a chat room server, receiving input data from at least one inputdevice, preparing a user interface screen for output to a displaydevice, the user interface screen including a chat room list including aplurality of chat room panels, each one chat room panel of the pluralityof chat room panels including information about a different chat roomfrom a plurality of chat rooms and a chat room icon of the differentchat room, wherein a first chat room panel of the plurality of chat roompanels includes an indication of how many chat room members of a firstchat room from the plurality of chat rooms have read a first messageposted in the first chat room.

There is also provided in accordance with another embodiment of thepresent disclosure, a chat room server system including a graphicsprocessing unit to prepare a user interface screen for output to adisplay device, the user interface screen including a chat room listincluding a plurality of chat room panels, each one chat room panel ofthe plurality of chat room panels including information about adifferent chat room from a plurality of chat rooms, a chat room icon ofthe different chat room, and a title of the different chat room, whereina first chat room panel of the plurality of chat room panels includes anindication of how many chat room members of a first chat room from theplurality of chat rooms have read a first message posted in the firstchat room, and a central processing unit to receive input data,interpret the input data to include selecting entry to, and posting thefirst message in, the first chat room.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-4 are views of a user interface screen 10, at various timeperiods, constructed and operative in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. Reference is now made to FIG. 1, which shows auser interface screen 10 run by a collaboration application on a mobilephone 12. The user interface screen 10 includes a chat room list 14. Thechat room list 14 includes a plurality of chat room panels 16,individually labelled 16(1)-16(3). Each chat room panel 16 includesinformation about a different chat room from a plurality of chat rooms.The chat rooms may include one-to-one and group conversations. Each chatroom panel 16 may include a chat room icon 18 of the chat roomassociated with that chat room panel 16, and a title 20 of the chat roomassociated with that chat room panel 16. Each chat room panel 16 mayalso include at least part of a most recent message 22 (individuallylabelled 22(1)-22(3)) posted in the chat room associated with that chatroom panel 16, and a member identification 26 of who posted the mostrecent message 22 to that chat room. The chat room icon 18 (individuallylabelled 18(1)-18(3)) of a chat room panel 16 may include one or moreavatars of members of the chat room associated with that chat room panel16 and optionally list the number of members in that chat room. Onlythree chat room panels 16 are shown in the chat room list 14. It will beappreciated that any suitable number of chat room panels 16 may beincluded in the chat room list 14 depending on the size of the screen,icons and fonts, by way of example only.

A chat room panel 16(1) of the chat room panels 16 includes anindication 24, which may include a graphic representation, of how manychat room members of the chat room (“March Demo”) associated with thechat room panel 16(1) have read the most recent message 22(1) posted inthe chat room associated with the chat room panel 16(1) by a user(“You”) of the mobile phone 12. The graphic representation shown in FIG.1 extends around the chat room icon 18(1) of the chat room panel 16(1)as a function of how many chat room members of that chat room have readthe most recent message 22(1) posted in that chat room by the user ofthe mobile phone 12. The graphic representation may extend as an arcaround the chat room icon 18(1). An angular size of the arc is afunction of how many chat room members of the chat room have read themost recent message 22(1) posted in that chat room. The arc may form anannular ring when 100% of the chat room members of the chat room haveread the most recent message 22(1) posted in that chat room. In FIG. 1,the arc extends half way around the chat room icon 18 of the chat roompanel 16(1) indicating that 50% of the members of the chat room haveread the most recent message 22(1). The arc may be any suitable colorand/or shading and/or pattern. The indication may additionally oralternatively include numerals to show how many members have read aposted message. Alternatively, the graphical representation may beimplemented in any suitable form, for example, but not limited to, a barindicator which indicates a fraction, percentage or number of how manymembers have read a posted message. Alternatively or additionally, theindication 24 may include a numeric representation of how many peoplehave read the message, e.g., “5”, “5” reads, or “5/8” to indicate that 5members out of a chat room membership of 8 have read a posted message.

A chat room panel 16(2) of the chat room panels 16 does not include anindication of how many members have read the most recent message 22(2)posted to the chat room “Sales meeting” as the most recent message 22(2)was posted by someone other than the user of the mobile phone 12. In theexample of FIG. 1, “John” posted the most recent message 22(2). It willbe appreciated that the user interface screen 10 may be implemented toshow a “read” indicator for all most recently posted messages of eachchat room, even those not posted by the user of the mobile phone 12.

A chat room panel 16(3) of the chat room panels 16 includes anindication 28 (e.g., a circle thinner than the thickness of theindication 24) around the chat room icon 18(3) of the chat room panel16(3). The indication 28 indicates that none of the members of the chatroom associated with the chat room panel 16(3) have read the most recentmessage 22(3) posted in that chat room (“PM customer feedback”) by theuser (“You”) of the mobile phone 12.

The indications 24, 28 enable the user of the mobile phone 12 to see howmany chat room members of the respective chat rooms have read the mostrecent messages 22 posted to the various chat rooms at the chat roomlist 14 level without having to enter each chat room separately. Thismay be particularly useful for a manager wanting to see if the mostrecent message 22 has been seen by those who report to the manager. Thisincreases the efficiency and speed of a system running the userinterface screen 10, as the users do not need to enter each chat roomseparately in order to see how many chat room members of the respectivechat rooms have read the most recent messages 22 posted to the variouschat rooms. The increase in efficiency may be generated whether the userinterface screen 10 is generated in a client device or in a cloudserver, by way of example only. There may be an additional bandwidthsaving as data for each chat room may not need to be downloaded to aclient device unless the user selects to enter a chat room so byenabling the user of the mobile phone 12 to see how many chat roommembers of the respective chat rooms have read the most recent messages22 posted to the various chat rooms at the chat room list 14 level, theneed for downloading certain chat room data may be reduced.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2. At a later time, than the time of FIG.1, 25% of the members of the “PM customer feedback” chat room have readthe most recent message 22(3) posted by the user of the mobile phone 12.This is indicated by the indication 28 now extending 25% (a 90 degreearc) around the chat room icon 18(3).

Reference is now made to FIG. 3. At a still later time, 100% of themembers of the “PM customer feedback” chat room have read the mostrecent message 22(3) posted by the user of the mobile phone 12. This isindicated by the indication 28 now extending 100% (a 360 degree arc)around the chat room icon 18(3).

Reference is now made to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 shows that the most recentmessage 22(3) was posted by Simone and not by the user of the mobilephone 12. Therefore, the indication 28 (FIG. 3) has now been removedfrom the user interface screen 10. As mentioned above, it will beappreciated that the user interface screen 10 may be implemented to showa “read” indicator for all most recently posted messages, even those notposted by the user of the mobile phone 12. In such a case, theindication 28 for other members besides the user of the mobile phone 12may be shown using a different color and/or shading and/or pattern, thanis used for the user of the mobile phone 12, by way of example only.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which is a view of a user interfacescreen 30 constructed and operative in accordance with an alternativeembodiment of the present disclosure. The user interface screen 30 issubstantially the same as the user interface screen 10 (FIGS. 1-4)except that the user interface screen 30 includes a plurality of togglebuttons 32 (“ALL” and “YOU”) to toggle between showing: (a) the mostrecent message 22 posted in each chat room independent of who posted themost recent message 22 by selecting the “ALL” toggle button 32; and (b)the most recent message 22 posted by one user (e.g. the user who isusing the user interface screen 10, i.e., the user interface screen 30shows the most recent messages posted by “You”) for all of the chatrooms where the one user, e.g., “You”, has posted a message by selectingthe “YOU” toggle button 32. In some embodiments the “one user” may beselected to be any one of the members of the chat rooms.

In the example of FIG. 5 the user interface screen 30 is showing mostrecent messages 22(1), 22(3) posted by “You” except for in the chat roompanel 16(2) where “You” has not posted any message to date. Theindications 24, 28 are shown in FIG. 5 only for the chat room panels16(1) and 16(3) where the user “You” has posted messages in the past.The indications 24, 28 show the “read” status of the latest messagesposted by “You” even if someone else has already posted a more recentmessage, for example, in the case of the chat room of chat room panel16(3), Simone posted the most recent message 22(3) (FIG. 4) after “You”.However, as the “You” toggle button 32 has been selected in FIG. 5, mostrecent message 22(3) posted by “You” is shown along with the readingindication 28 for the most recent message 22(3) posted by “You”. It willbe appreciated that the toggle buttons 32 may be replaced by a singletoggle button which provides the same functionality as the togglebuttons 32.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6, which is a view of the user interfacescreen 10 of FIG. 1 showing more information 34 about which members ofthe chat room of the chat room panel 16(1) have read the most recentmessage 22(1) (FIG. 4) and which members of the chat room have not readthe most recent message 22(1). The additional information 34 may beselected by the user hovering over the chat room icon 18(1) or by anyother suitable user selection. If the information 34 is selected byhovering etc., the user interface screen 10 is updated to furtherinclude a representation 36, e.g., an avatar, of each of the members ofthe chat room of the chat room panel 16(1) and an indication 38 of whichof the members of that chat room have read the most recent message22(1). The indication 38 may include disposing a shape around therepresentation 36 (e.g., the avatar) of each of the members of that chatroom that have read the most recent message 22(1). The shape istypically a circular shape disposed around the chat room panel 16(1) andmay be colored and/or shaded. Using the same color and/or shading and/orpattern for the indications 38 and the indication 24 may help reinforcethe notion that the chosen color and/or shade means that the most recentmessage 22(1) has been read. The representations 36 without theindication 38 belong to the members of the chat room who have not yetread the most recent message 22(1). It will be appreciated that theindications 38 may be replaced by other methods of indication, forexample, but not limited to, using check marks and/or making therepresentations 36 of the members who have read the most recent message22(1) larger than the representations 36 of the members who have notread the most recent message 22(1).

Chat room members may be encouraged to participate in the chat rooms bya form of ‘gamification’ by ordering the representations 36 of themembers in the information 34 by engagement as will be described in moredetail below. The representations 36 of the members may be orderedaccording to which members of the chat room of the chat room panel 16(1)have read the most recent message 22(1) (FIG. 4) and which of themembers of that chat room have not read the most recent message 22(1).Additionally, the representations 36 of the members of the chat room ofthe chat room panel 16(1) may be ordered, at a second sort level,according to an engagement of each of the members in that chat room. Theengagement may be measured by number of messages posted and/or messagesread in that chat room or all chat rooms, by way of example only.Alternatively, the representations 36 of the members may be orderedaccording to an engagement of each of the members in the chat room andnot by whether the most recent message 22(1) has been read or not.

In FIG. 6, the representation 36 closest to the chat room icon 18(1)belongs to a member who has read the post and is also the most engagedin this chat room. The representation 36 which is fifth from the chatroom icon 18(1) belongs to a member who has not read the most recentmessage 22(1) but is the most engaged member of those who have not readthe most recent message 22(1) (FIG. 4). The representation 36 which iseighth from the chat room icon 18(1) belongs to a member who has notread the most recent message 22(1) and is the least engaged member ofthose who have not read the most recent message 22(1).

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which is partly pictorial, partly blockdiagram view of a chat room client system 40 constructed and operativein accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The chatroom client system 40 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 42, amemory 44, a graphics processing unit (GPU) 46, a data bus 48, a networkinput/output interface 50, a graphics output sub-system 52 and a userinput interface 54. The chat room client system 40 may be implemented inany suitable processing device, for example, but not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet device, a laptop computer or a desk top computer.

The network input/output interface 50 is operative to receive, from achat room server 56, data including chat room data (e.g., chat roomlists, chat room titles, chat room messages, chat room icons, membericons/avatars) and data indicating how many chat room members of one ormore chat rooms have read a message (e.g., a latest posted message)posted in the relevant chat room. The network input/output interface 50may be a wired and/or wireless network interface.

The user input interface 54 is operative to receive input data from atleast one input device, for example, but not limited to, a keyboard 58,a mouse 60 and/or a touchscreen. The input data may indicate a screenposition (e.g., a screen position of a cursor or a finger or a stylus)and/or a mouse click or an equivalent selection command and/or keyboardinput, by way of example only. When the chat room client device 40 isimplemented in a smart phone the user input interface 54 may receive theinput data from a touchscreen of the smart phone.

The GPU 46 is operative to prepare the user interface screen 10 (FIG.1-4, 6), 30 (FIG. 5) for output to a display device 62. The GPU 46,apart from utilizing the data received from the chat room server 56 inpreparing the user interface screen 10, 30, typically customizes theuser interface screen 10, 30 according to specifications of the displaydevice 62. The graphics output sub-system 52 is operative to output theuser interface screen 10, 30 to the display device 62. The displaydevice 62 may be implemented as a stand-alone monitor as shown in FIG.7, as a display integrated into the chat room client system 40 typicallyincorporating a touchscreen (for example, when the chat room clientdevice 40 is implemented in a smart phone), or as a projector and screenarrangement, by way of example only. The GPU 46 may be implemented inthe CPU 42.

The CPU 42 is operative to receive the input data from the user inputinterface 54 and interpret the input data, for example, based on ascreen position (e.g., a screen position of a cursor or a finger or astylus), to include selecting entry to, and/or posting a message to, thechat room associated with the screen position. The CPU 42 may alsopre-process received chat room data for forwarding to the GPU 46. Thenetwork input/output interface 50 is operative to send messages postedby the user of the chat room client system 40 to the chat room server56. The memory 44 is operative to store data used by the CPU 42 and theGPU 46 and other elements of the chat room client system 40, asnecessary. The data bus 48 is operative to connect the various elementsof the chat room client system 40 for data connection purposes.

The CPU 42 is operative to calculate a proximity of a screen position(e.g., a position of a cursor or a finger or a stylus) with the chatroom icon 18(1) (FIG. 6) of the chat room panel 16(1) (FIG. 6) and basedon the proximity, to interpret the input data to include selecting moreinformation 34 (FIG. 6) about the indication 38 of how many chat roommembers of the chat room associated with the chat room panel 16(1) haveread the most recent message 22(1) (FIG. 1) posted in that chat room.The GPU 46 is operative to prepare the user interface screen 10 (FIG. 6)to further include the representation 36 of each of the members of thatchat room and an indication of which of the members of that chat roomhave read the most recent message 22(1) by disposing a shape around therepresentation 36, e.g., avatar, of each of the members of that chatroom that have read the most recent message 22(1) or using any suitableindication.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment, the user interface screen10, 30 may be initially prepared by the chat room server 56. The chatroom server 56 may comprise a CPU which may be operative to receive theuser input from the user input interface 54 of the chat room clientsystem 40. The chat room server 56 may also include a GPU to prepare theuser interface screen 10, 30 based on the chat room data and transmitthe user interface screen 10, 30 to the chat room client system 40. Theuser interface screen 10 may then be formatted by the GPU 46 of the chatroom client system 40 according to the specifications of the displaydevice 62.

In practice, some or all of these functions may be combined in a singlephysical component or, alternatively, implemented using multiplephysical components. These physical components may comprise hard-wiredor programmable devices, or a combination of the two. In someembodiments, at least some of the functions of the processing circuitrymay be carried out by a programmable processor under the control ofsuitable software. This software may be downloaded to a device inelectronic form, over a network, for example. Alternatively oradditionally, the software may be stored in tangible, non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media, such as optical, magnetic, orelectronic memory.

It is appreciated that software components may, if desired, beimplemented in ROM (read only memory) form. The software components may,generally, be implemented in hardware, if desired, using conventionaltechniques. It is further appreciated that the software components maybe instantiated, for example: as a computer program product or on atangible medium. In some cases, it may be possible to instantiate thesoftware components as a signal interpretable by an appropriatecomputer, although such an instantiation may be excluded in certainembodiments of the present disclosure.

It will be appreciated that various features of the disclosure whichare, for clarity, described in the contexts of separate embodiments mayalso be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely,various features of the disclosure which are, for brevity, described inthe context of a single embodiment may also be provided separately or inany suitable sub-combination.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentdisclosure is not limited by what has been particularly shown anddescribed hereinabove. Rather the scope of the disclosure is defined bythe appended claims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving data includingchat room data from a chat room server; receiving input data from atleast one input device; and preparing a user interface screen for outputto a display device, the user interface screen including a chat roomlist including at least one chat room panel, each at least one chat roompanel including information about (a) a different chat room from otherchat rooms of the at least one chat room panel, and (b) a chat room iconof the different chat room; wherein a first chat room panel of the atleast one chat room panel includes an indication of how many chat roommembers of a first chat room of the first chat room panel have read afirst message posted in the first chat room.
 2. The method according toclaim 1, further comprising: posting the first message in the first chatroom; and sending the first message to the chat room server.
 3. Themethod according to claim 2, wherein a graphic representation extendsaround the chat room icon of the first chat room panel as a function ofhow many chat room members of the first chat room have read the firstmessage posted in the first chat room.
 4. The method according to claim3, wherein the graphic representation extends as an arc around the chatroom icon, an angular size of the arc being a function of how many chatroom members of the first chat room have read the first message postedin the first chat room, the arc forming an annular ring when 100% of thechat room members of the first chat room have read the first messageposted in the first chat room.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: selecting more information about the indication of how manychat room members of the first chat room have read the first messageposted in the first chat room; and based on the selecting, indicatingadditional information about which of the chat room members of the firstchat room have read the first message.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: calculating a proximity of a screen position with the chatroom icon of the first chat room panel; based on the calculatedproximity, indicating additional information about which of the chatroom members of the first chat room have read the first message.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising representing each of the chat roommembers of a first chat room with an avatar.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer readable media including instructions that when executed on aprocesser cause the processor to perform operations comprising:receiving data including chat room data from a chat room server;receiving input data from at least one input device; and preparing auser interface screen for output to a display device, the user interfacescreen including a chat room list including a at least one chat roompanel, each at least one chat room panel including information about (a)a different chat room from other chat rooms of the at least one chatroom panel, and (b) a chat room icon of the different chat room; whereina first chat room panel of the at least one chat room panel includes anindication of how many chat room members of a first chat room of thefirst chat room panel have read a first message posted in the first chatroom.
 9. The non-transitory computer readable media according to claim8, the operations further comprising: posting the first message in thefirst chat room; and sending the first message to the chat room server.10. The non-transitory computer readable media according to claim 9,wherein a graphic representation extends around the chat room icon ofthe first chat room panel as a function of how many chat room members ofthe first chat room have read the first message posted in the first chatroom.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable media according to claim10, wherein the graphic representation extends as an arc around the chatroom icon, an angular size of the arc being a function of how many chatroom members of the first chat room have read the first message postedin the first chat room, the arc forming an annular ring when 100% of thechat room members of the first chat room have read the first messageposted in the first chat room.
 12. The non-transitory computer readablemedia of claim 8, the operations further comprising: selecting moreinformation about the indication of how many chat room members of thefirst chat room have read the first message posted in the first chatroom; and based on the selecting, indicating additional informationabout which of the chat room members of the first chat room have readthe first message.
 13. The non-transitory computer readable media ofclaim 8, the operations further comprising: calculating a proximity of ascreen position with the chat room icon of the first chat room panel;based on the calculated proximity, indicating additional informationabout which of the chat room members of the first chat room have readthe first message.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable of claim 8,further comprising representing each of the chat room members with anavatar.
 15. A system comprising: a network input/output interface toreceive data including chat room data from a chat room server; a userinput interface to receive input data from at least one input device; agraphics processing unit to prepare a user interface screen for outputto a display device, the user interface screen including a chat roomlist including at least one chat room panel, each at least one chat roompanel including information about (a) a different chat room from otherchat rooms of the at least one chat room panel, and (b) a chat room iconof the different chat room, wherein a first chat room panel of the atleast one chat room panel includes an indication of how many chat roommembers of a first chat room of the first chat room panel have read afirst message posted in the first chat room; and a central processingunit to: receive the input data from the user input interface; andinterpret the input data to include selecting entry to, and posting thefirst message in, the first chat room, wherein the network input/outputinterface is operative to send the first message to the chat roomserver.
 16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the centralprocessing unit posts the first message in the first chat room and sendsthe first message to the chat room server.
 17. The system according toclaim 15, wherein a graphic representation extends around the chat roomicon of the first chat room panel as a function of how many chat roommembers of the first chat room have read the first message posted in thefirst chat room.
 18. The system according to claim 17, wherein thegraphic representation extends as an arc around the chat room icon, anangular size of the arc being a function of how many chat room membersof the first chat room have read the first message posted in the firstchat room, the arc forming an annular ring when 100% of the chat roommembers of the first chat room have read the first message posted in thefirst chat room.
 19. The system according to claim 15, wherein thenetwork input/output interface is operative to receive, from the chatroom server, data indicating how many chat room members of the firstchat room have read the first message posted in the first chat room. 20.The system according to claim 15, further comprising a graphics outputsub-system to output the user interface screen to a display device.